There is no question that artificial intelligence is fast becoming an influential part of social media marketing. The companies behind the social networks and social media tools everyone is using are rapidly integrating AI into their products and platforms. What does this mean for your business?

Many of the tools you might already use, such as the listening features in Sprout Social or the graphic design tools in Canva, are integrating AI into their features. Newer products are available that are based entirely around AI such as Suno for music production and Sora for video creation.

Here are 10 ways you can use AI-powered tools to enhance your social media marketing:

1. Research competitors

Wondering what your competitors are up to on social media? You can save time by providing an AI "assistant tool," such as ChatGPT, with your competitor names and ask for an analysis of how they are using social networks. Give specific details to get the information you need such as, "Tell me how companies X, Y, and Z are using Instagram, comparing their key messages, style, tone, popular posts, and explain how a competitor can stand out from them." You’ll get a detailed response to each question you ask in a matter of seconds.

2. Research your audience

AI tools can only be as good as the information you input. If you want an analysis of what people are saying about your business, and not just a list of comments, try a tool such as ChatGPT’s competitor Gemini, a Google product. Give text-based instructions such as, "Search the comments on my company’s Facebook posts and give a summary of the general sentiment and what they frequently comment about positive or negative. Also provide a few statements that can address people’s concerns." Seconds later, you’ll have a summary and suggestions.

3. Develop a daily social media calendar

You might try another AI assistant tool, Claude, to help you develop a daily social media calendar for your target audience. Input anything that can be used as source material for messaging, from your website to press releases, and ask for a day-to-day breakdown of short, compelling social media captions you can publish. Give details about your audience, their age range, location, interests, habits, and anything else you know about them to help inform the content and tone or specify the style and tone you want based on your brand.

4. Recommend a social media ad strategy based on your audience

Any of the AI assistant tools can provide ideas for a social media ad strategy, including everything from frequency, audience targeting suggestions, ad copy, even imagery. The output may vary depending on the tool you use, but what you get will mostly depend on the information and resources you provide.

5. Generate graphics tailored to your brand

If you’re already using a graphics tool such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, or Canva, you can tap into their AI products, Adobe Firefly and Canva Magic Studio, to generate branded graphics for social media posts, ads, and cover images. DaVinci and Midjourney are two popular AI-graphics tools that can also produce images from text descriptions you input.

While these tools can generate photographs, posting AI-generated, realistic-looking photos could be viewed as being deceptive. There is growing concern over "deep fake" images, and in a time when being authentic in social media is important, you may want to think carefully before posting fake photos to your social networks. With graphics and illustrations, it is more obvious that they are creations and not presented as real life.

6. Edit photographs

Instead of creating fake photographic images, you can take actual photographs and use an AI-powered tool such as Artlist or Photoroom to edit them or even upload them to ChatGPT, or other AI assistants, with editing instructions. Some common edit requests include removing haze, making the image sharper, cutting out objects or people from the background, color matching, adjusting the lighting, and correcting perspective. Be sure to carefully review the output, as AI tools have the tendency of overdoing something. For example, if you ask one to clean up the image so that the faces of people in the photograph are clear, the AI tool may "decide" to change a person’s facial features or even their hairstyle to better showcase their face.

7. Edit videos

Tools such as Veed and Descript can be used to edit videos, from trimming a long video down to specific sections, to compiling multiple videos into a video montage.

8. Produce animation

AI tools such as LTX cartoon generator and OpenAI’s Sora 2 can generate animated videos from text prompts, but with "deep fake" concerns in mind, asking for animation instead of photorealistic imagery may be the smart way to go.

9. Produce music

While the jury is still out about copyrights and AI generated content, if you’re in need of a quick jingle for your social media ad or post, you could use a tool such as Suno to come up with the music. Suno can also provide lyrics based on the information you provide, or you can have Suno put your original lyrics to music, using your specs for everything from the genre, instrumentation, and vocalists.

10. Provide first-contact customer service

Responding to customer inquiries on social media can be daunting and many companies are turning to chatbots to help field calls, provide basic responses, and redirect messages to the right team member or department. Zendesk has an AI agent product as does Zoho or you could explore Tidio or Wonderchat for free-standing applications. Most are fee-based subscriptions, and some are easier to implement than others.

An important thing to remember about AI tools is that they are not perfect. Like humans, they make mistakes, and they require human review and intervention to get it right. Don’t over-rely on AI to do all the work for you. Always double check anything you’ve generated with AI. Test out multiple tools, especially if they are free, to find the one that provides the best outputs.